Hand supportable clamp and bench mount therefor



Nov. 24, 1953 F, E. BELLOVWS HAND SUPPORTABLE CLAMP AND BENCH MOUNT THEREFOR Filed March 26 1951 1N VEN TOR.

F 01 E. BELLOWS w wzga E l 4 ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 24,1953

2,660,079 OFFICE HAND surron'rAcLs CLAMP AND BENcnf MOUNT THEREFOR Foy E. Bellows, Dallas, Tex.

Application March 26, 1951, Serial No. 217,419

I 3 Claims.

This invention relates to clamping devices and more particularly to clamping devices which may be held in the handor berigidly secured to a fixed structure. H U

, In the setting of precious stones in rings,-or other jewelry, the ring must be held rigidly in some type of clamping device during filing, saw

ing and shaping of the setting. The clamping device must be capable of a large range of adjustment so that all portions of the settingv may be made readily accessible to the working tool such as a file or graver. It is possible to emplo clamping devices which are held in the hand but the hand does not provide as rigid a support as is necessary for some operations. In such operations the tool employed often slips and injures the hand holding the clamping device. It is desirable, therefore, to have a clamping device in which a ring or otherobject can be secured rigidly, quickly and easily. Moreover, the clamping device should be small enough to be .held comfortably in the hand and also be capable of being secured rigidly to 'a bench orother fixed structure in any one of various adjustable positions so that all surfaces of the object onwhich work is to be done can be easily made accessible to the working tool.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved clamping device.

It is another object of, this invention toprovide a new and improved clamping device which maybe held in the hand or may be easily se cured to a fixed structure in any desired position.

1 It is still another object of this invention to provide a new and improved clamping device in which an object maybe secured rigidly, quickly and easily. i i

In brieffthe new and improved clamping device includes a vise having at one end a plurality of jaws between, and by which, an object-may be held rigidly. The jaws are forced toward each other by the camming action between link menibers which pivotally secure the jaws to a common post and an annular member into which the common post is screwed. A handle is disposed on the other end of the vise and asubstantially spherical. body is disposed between the jaws and the handle. The spherical body may be clamped to a plate in any desired position by means of a screw operated slidable insert. The plate in turn can be rigidly secured to a, bench or other fixed table by a C-shaped clamp whose upper end may be made in the form of an anvil.

For a better understanding of the-invention,

Figure 2 is a side view of the clamping device shown in Figure 1;

reference may be had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and its scope will be pointed out the appended claims. j, "1;?

In the drawing, ,1 :1. F e .1 e p rif q ive iewfif th device secured to a benchf Figure 3 is a sectional view of a portion of the device illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 with the jaws shown in open position;

Figure 4 is a sectional view of a portion of the device illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 with the jaws shown in closed position;

Figure 5 is a top plan view of a modified form of the jaws shown in Figures 1 to 4;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the links and post of the jaws shown in Figure 5; and,

Figure '7 is a perspective exploded view of two components of the device.

Referring now especially to Figures 1 to l of the drawing, a vise It! is shown clamped to a plate i i which in turn is clamped to a bench l2. The vise It has a pair of opposed jaws l2 and it which are pivotally secured to a common post 14 by links 45 and I6, respectively. The substantially L-shaped links [5 and it have substantially vertical legs H and 18, respectively, which extend into slots I9 and 2!) in the jaws I2 and I3 and which are pivotally secured tothe jaws l2 and i3 by pins 2| and 22, respectively. Substantially horizontal legs 23 and 24' of links [5 and 16, respectively, are disposed in a slot provided in the upper end of the post it and are pivotally secured to the post by a pin 25.

The post M has a reduced shank 25 which is threaded and extends into the threaded bore '25 provided in the central portion 21 of the vise it. The central body portion consists of a substantially spherical body or ball 23 on which is disposed a cup shaped camming body 29 formed by a recess 39 to receive the top portion of the post I4 and, by a rim 35 to contact the legs 23 and 24 of the links as the post is screwed into the bore 26. It will be apparent that as the post is screwed into the bore, the links will be pivoted inwardly by the camming action of the rim 3! causing the jaws I2 and 63 to approach each other. Any object inserted between the faces 32 and'33 of the jaws l2 and is can thus he rigidly gripped by the jaws by rotating th jaws in a clockwise manner. The faces 32 and 33 are preferably made of leather, fibrous material, or

object held between the jaws is worked on by a tool held in the other hand. In many cases, the hand cannot support the vise firmly enough for the operation which is to be performed on the object held between the jaws. In this latter case,

the vise may be clamped to the plate H in any desired position.

The plate I i isprovided with an aperture 35 througlrwhich slidably extends the vertical portion 3t of a C-shaped clamp 31. The upper porti on of the clamp 31 may be formed in the shape 3 of an anvil 38 and is rigidl secured, as by welding, to the portion 38 after the latter has been inserted through the aperture 35. The clamp 31 also includes a screw 39 which passes through a l vertical threaded bore in an end ii! of the clamp. The plate H can therefore be rigidly secured to the bench 12 by placing the anvil 38 and the plate H on opposite sides of the bench and rotating the screw 39 to draw the plate and anvil toward each other.

The end of plate ll remote from the clamp 3? is provided with an arcuate concave recess M which fits the convex surface of ball 28. An end piece 32 has a pair of parallel legs 53' and 44 whose ends abut the end of the plate I! on the opposite sides of the concave recess ll. The end piece 42 is rigidly but det'achably secured to the plate H by a pair of screws at and it which extend through holes in the legs 33 and id, respectively, to engage in registering threaded bores in the end of plate ii. The holes in the end piece are enlarged as at i! to provide abutments r against which the heads or" screws 35 and ifi can bear.

The inner sides of the legs as and it are grooved as at 23 and respectively, to receive the outwardly projecting tongues 3i! and iii provided on opposite sides of an insert also provided with an arcuate concave recess 53 which fits the convex surf-ace of ball 23. The insert is so positioned that the two recesses ii and as face each other and contact opposite portions of ball in a threaded aperture 55 in end piece 32 and its end bears against the back side of the insert 53 so that by rotation of the thumb-screw the insert can be moved toward the plate it. Since the ball 28 is positioned between the insert 53 and the plate ii, the ball 28 may be locked in any desired position by rotating the thumb screw to move the insert against the ball.

The manner in which the vise it may be adjusted when secured to plate H will now be obvious. If the vise it must be moved frequently, the thumb-screw 5c is rotated to a position in which the ball 23 may be rotated more or less freely between the insert and the plate. The handle is grasped in one hand and a tool in the other. t will now be possible to move the vise into innumerable positions since the manner in which the ball 28 is mounted will allow rotary movement of the ball in any direction. The vise, however, is held firml by the plate H so that a relatively firm support is provided for the vise. slippage of tools oi? the object held between the jaws i2 and i3 will therefore be minimized.

If a very rigid support is required, the vise is The insert 52 is A thumb screw 55 engages moved to the desired position and the thumbscrew is rotated to lock the ball 28 between the insert 52 and the plate IE and hold the vise immovable.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate a modified form of I the jaw assembly shown in Figures 1 to 4.. The K jaw assembly 58 includes three jaws 5?, 5B and 5% which are pivotally secured to a common post 58 by links 6!, t2 and 33, respectively. The L- shaped links 81!, 62 and 33 have ends pivotally secured to the common post by suitable pins and 4 1 to 4 to hold an. object betweenthem when the post 68 is screwed into the bore 26.

It will be seen now that a clamping device has been illustrated and described which provides a vise in which an object can be quickly and easily clamped. Furthermore, the vise described can be held in the hand or can be clamped to a fixed plate in any desired position by movement of the handle and rotation of the thumb-screw 56.

It will be apparent that various changes and modifications can be made in the described and illustrated embodiments. of the invention without departing from the invention and it is intended, therefore, in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a clamping device, the combination comprising a horizontal mounting plate having one end anchored and provided at its opposite end with a semi-circular recess, a substantially U-shaped end piece, Whose legs are attached to the end of said plate on opposite sides of said recess, an insert slidably disposed between the legs of said end piece and having a semi-circular recess therein opposing the recess in said plate to define jointly with the latter a circular opening having concave Walls, a ball rotatable in said opening, a screw threaded through said end piece for moving said insert in relation to said ball to hold the same in adjusted positions, a handle attached to said ball below said plate, clamping jaws carried by said ball above said plate and means for moving said jaws into and out of clamping engagement with work between said jaws.

2. In a clamping device, the combination comprising a horizontal plate adapted to be affixed at one end to a support, a Ushaped end piece attached to the opposite end of said plate and having confronting grooves in its legs, an insert between the legs of said end piece and having tongues slidable in the grooves of said legs, said insert having a semi-circular recess confronting a recess of like formation in said opposite end of said plate, said recesses jointly defining a circular opening having concave walls, a ball retained in said opening, means for manipulating said ball to a variety of positions, means bearing against said insert to irictionally hold said ball in adjusted positions and work clamping means carried by said ball opposite said manipulating means.

3. The structure of claim 2; said clamping means comprising a cup-shaped camming body integral with said ball, a vertical shank threaded axially through said camming body and into said ball, a series of substantially L-shaped links whose. horizontal portions are pivoted at their ends radially about the upper end of said shank, a plurality of complementary jaws pivoted to the upper ends of the vertical portions of said links and adapted to be moved in relation to each other by engagement and disengagement of the angles of said links with said camming body through rotation of said shank.

FOY E. BELLOWS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 108,784 I-Iildreth Nov. 1, 1870 1,534,926 Doble Apr. 21, 1925 1,933,718 Devincenzi Nov. 7, 1933 2,417,533 Wilkinson Mar. 18, 19 7 

